Trip away, make no stay, etc. + Preaching: it isn't just for preachers anymore.
Sooooooo, I won't be in school on Tuesday or Wednesday because, as I've already mentioned, I'll be in Hilton Head. I'm kind of dissapointed about missing dance two days in a row and getting behind on schoolwork. I, however, am not the slightest bit upset about missind Dr. Farmer's class.
For any of you who are priveleged enough to have Dr. Farmer, at least in CP Physics (I don't know about Honors Physics, which I would have preferred to be in were it not for some higher authorities deciding otherwise), you know that we learn basically nothing in the class save that which Paul Hewitt's wonderful videos ("HC, gang? How come?" "Starts with a 'y', ends with a 'es'.") and worksheets tell us. We don't explore concepts or talk about why they're necessarily important per se like we do in English (or even Government!), and for me that kills any lesson within a matter of two minutes. Ask anyone who sits near me and they'll tell you that I begin staring into space almost as soon as I sit in my seat. It's not what we're learning that's necessarily boring, it's how it's presented. Science is interesting and even amazing when it's taught properly, but we aren't being taught -- we're being preached to.
Because it's his duty to be a good example of humanism to his students, Dr. Farmer reminds us every once in a while that "science and religion are compatible". But, like many clergymen, he doesn't practice what he preaches. Don't get me wrong; I'm Christian, and I also happen to have an interest in science. But I don't appreciate it when a science teacer (or any teacher, for that matter) says one thing but then totally does another by constantly trying to rebut religion in his lessons. There's nothing wrong with mentioning Issac Asimov in your lesson, but it doesn't matter that he's a "hardcore atheist" who writes stories about the exploding Star of Bethlehem (which presents the dilemma of a God who supposedly kills living beings to announce the birth of his Son). It doesn't matter that Albert Einstein gave up his faith in God due to the Uncertainty Principle. It also doesn't mean that science is more trustworthy than religion simply because it asserts the fact that we don't know anything for sure about the world. Science is not superior to the religion because its "followers" (? That makes science sound like a cult, which it isn't, or at least shouldn't be) are willing to admit that "the only thing they know is that they know nothing".
And, for God's sake (almost literally), if you're going to try to seem better than religion, please don't teach like a bad Sunday School teacher. Don't throw worksheets at us as you rattle off a few bullet points and then pop in a video because you think we're incapable of stimulating discussion. In honesty, during the few times that we do discuss topics (or when someone asks a question), "That's just the way it is" is never a satisfying answer. Isn't that why people like Dr. Farmer don't like church, because they were forced to sit in classrooms on Sunday mornings, completely confused as to exactly how, for example, God could be both loving and vengeful at the same time, only to get an answer along the lines of "Beacuse He just is, and the Bible says so"?
I really wish I were in Honors. At least I'd get to do math problems that made some attempt to add a layer of meaning to the principles we're learning by rote, even if it's true that only one person is making an 'A'. But is there any use in complaining? Starts with an 'N'. Ends with an 'O'.
For any of you who are priveleged enough to have Dr. Farmer, at least in CP Physics (I don't know about Honors Physics, which I would have preferred to be in were it not for some higher authorities deciding otherwise), you know that we learn basically nothing in the class save that which Paul Hewitt's wonderful videos ("HC, gang? How come?" "Starts with a 'y', ends with a 'es'.") and worksheets tell us. We don't explore concepts or talk about why they're necessarily important per se like we do in English (or even Government!), and for me that kills any lesson within a matter of two minutes. Ask anyone who sits near me and they'll tell you that I begin staring into space almost as soon as I sit in my seat. It's not what we're learning that's necessarily boring, it's how it's presented. Science is interesting and even amazing when it's taught properly, but we aren't being taught -- we're being preached to.
Because it's his duty to be a good example of humanism to his students, Dr. Farmer reminds us every once in a while that "science and religion are compatible". But, like many clergymen, he doesn't practice what he preaches. Don't get me wrong; I'm Christian, and I also happen to have an interest in science. But I don't appreciate it when a science teacer (or any teacher, for that matter) says one thing but then totally does another by constantly trying to rebut religion in his lessons. There's nothing wrong with mentioning Issac Asimov in your lesson, but it doesn't matter that he's a "hardcore atheist" who writes stories about the exploding Star of Bethlehem (which presents the dilemma of a God who supposedly kills living beings to announce the birth of his Son). It doesn't matter that Albert Einstein gave up his faith in God due to the Uncertainty Principle. It also doesn't mean that science is more trustworthy than religion simply because it asserts the fact that we don't know anything for sure about the world. Science is not superior to the religion because its "followers" (? That makes science sound like a cult, which it isn't, or at least shouldn't be) are willing to admit that "the only thing they know is that they know nothing".
And, for God's sake (almost literally), if you're going to try to seem better than religion, please don't teach like a bad Sunday School teacher. Don't throw worksheets at us as you rattle off a few bullet points and then pop in a video because you think we're incapable of stimulating discussion. In honesty, during the few times that we do discuss topics (or when someone asks a question), "That's just the way it is" is never a satisfying answer. Isn't that why people like Dr. Farmer don't like church, because they were forced to sit in classrooms on Sunday mornings, completely confused as to exactly how, for example, God could be both loving and vengeful at the same time, only to get an answer along the lines of "Beacuse He just is, and the Bible says so"?
I really wish I were in Honors. At least I'd get to do math problems that made some attempt to add a layer of meaning to the principles we're learning by rote, even if it's true that only one person is making an 'A'. But is there any use in complaining? Starts with an 'N'. Ends with an 'O'.